James Horner
James Roy Horner (August 14, 1953 – June 22, 2015) was an American composer, conductor and orchestrator of film scores, writing over 100. He was known for the integration of choral and electronic elements, and for his frequent use of motifs associated with Celtic music.12 Horner's first major score was in 1979 for The Lady in Red, but he did not establish himself as an eminent film composer until his work on the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.3 His score for James Cameron's Titanic is the best-selling orchestral film soundtrack of all time.45He also wrote the score for the highest-grossing film of all time, Cameron's Avatar.6 Horner collaborated on multiple projects with directors including Don Bluth, James Cameron, Joe Johnston, Walter Hill and Ron Howard; producers including George Lucas, David Kirschner, Jon Landau, Brian Grazer and Steven Spielberg; and songwriters including Will Jennings, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. He won two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, three Satellite Awards, and three Saturn Awards, and was nominated for three British Academy Film Awards. Horner, who was an avid pilot, died at the age of 61 in a single-fatality crash while flying his Short Tucano turboprop aircraft.7 Early life Horner was born in 1953 in Los Angeles, California, to Jewish immigrants.891011 His father, Harry Horner, was born in Holice, Bohemia, then a part of Austria-Hungary. He immigrated to the United States in 1935 and worked as a set designer and art director.1213His mother, Joan Ruth (née Frankel), was born into a prominent Canadian family. His brother Christopher is a writer and documentary filmmaker.11 James Horner started playing piano at the age of five. He also played violin. He spent his early years in London, where he attended the Royal College of Music. He returned to America, where he attended Verde Valley School in Sedona, Arizona, and later received his bachelor's degree in music from the University of Southern California. After earning a master's degree, he started work on his doctorate at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he studied with Paul Chihara, among others. After several scoring assignments with the American Film Institute in the 1970s, he finished teaching a course in music theory at UCLA, then turned to film scoring.14 Horner was also an avid pilot, and owned several small airplanes.1516 Career Horner's first credit as a feature-film composer was for B-movie director and producer Roger Corman's Battle Beyond the Stars.1718 As his work gained notice in Hollywood, Horner was invited to take on larger projects. One of his first major scores was for 1979's The Lady in Red.19 Horner's big break came in 1982 when he was asked to score Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. It established him as an A-list Hollywood composer. Director Nicholas Meyer quipped that Horner was hired because the studio could no longer afford the first Trek movie's composer, Jerry Goldsmith; but that by the time Meyer returned to the franchise with Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the studio could not afford Horner either.20 Horner continued writing high-profile film scores in the 1980s, including 48 Hrs. (1982), Krull (1983), Star Trek III: The Search for Spock(1984), Commando (1985), Cocoon (1985), Aliens (1986), *batteries not included (1987), Willow (1988), Glory and Field of Dreams (both 1989). Cocoon was the first of his many collaborations with director Ron Howard.21 In 1987, Horner's original score for Aliensbrought him his first Academy Award nomination.22 "Somewhere Out There," which he co-composed and co-wrote with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil for An American Tail, was also nominated that year for Best Original Song.23 Throughout the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, Horner wrote orchestral scores for family films (particularly those produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment), with credits for An American Tail (1986); The Land Before Time (1988); The Rocketeer and An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991); Once Upon a Forest and We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story(1993); The Pagemaster (1994); Casper, Jumanjiand Balto (1995); Mighty Joe Young (1998); and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000). Horner scored six films in 1995, including his commercially successful and critically acclaimed works for Braveheart and Apollo 13, both of which received Academy Award nominations. Horner's biggest critical and financial success came in 1997 with his score for James Cameron's Titanic. At the 70th Academy Awards, Horner received the Oscar for Best Original Dramatic Score, and shared the Oscar for Best Original Song with co-writer Will Jennings for "My Heart Will Go On". The film's score and song also won three Grammy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.2425(Ten years earlier, Horner had vowed never to work with Cameron again, referring to the highly stressful scoring sessions for Aliens as "a nightmare".26) After Titanic, Horner continued to compose for major productions, including The Perfect Storm, A Beautiful Mind, Enemy at the Gates, The Mask of Zorro, The Legend of Zorro, House of Sand and Fog and Bicentennial Man.10 He also worked on smaller projects such as Iris, Radioand Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius. He received his eighth and ninth Academy Award nominations for A Beautiful Mind (2001) and House of Sand and Fog (2003), but lost on both occasions to composer Howard Shore. Horner composed the 2006–2011 theme for the CBS Evening News, which was introduced during the debut of anchor Katie Couric on September 5, 2006.27 He wrote various treatments of the theme, explaining, "One night the show might begin with the Iranians obtaining a nuclear device, and another it might be something about a flower show... The tone needs to match the news."28 Horner collaborated again with James Cameronon his 2009 film Avatar, which became the highest-grossing film of all time, surpassing Cameron's own Titanic.23 Horner worked exclusively on Avatar for over two years. He said, "Avatar has been the most difficult film I have worked on, and the biggest job I have undertaken... I work from four in the morning to about ten at night, and that's been my way of life since March.timeframe? That's the world I'm in now, and it makes you feel estranged from everything. I'll have to recover from that and get my head out of it."29 Avatar brought Horner his tenth Academy Award nomination, as well as nominations for the Golden Globe Award, British Academy Film Award and Grammy Award, all of which he lost to Michael Giacchino for Up.30 After Avatar, Horner wrote the score for the 2010 version of The Karate Kid, replacing Atli Örvarsson.31 In 2011, he scored Cristiada (also known as For Greater Glory), which was released a year later; and Black Gold. In 2012 he scored The Amazing Spider-Man, starring Andrew Garfield. In an interview on his website, Horner revealed why he didn't return to compose the second movie; that he didn't like how the movie resulted in comparison to the first movie, and even called the movie "dreadful."32 Upon his departure, he was replaced by Hans Zimmer. In early 2015, after a three-year hiatus, Horner wrote the music for the adventure film Wolf Totem, his fourth collaboration with director Jean-Jacques Annaud.33 At the time of his death, Horner had scored two films yet to be released:34 * Southpaw, a boxing drama directed by Antoine Fuqua, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Rachel McAdams (Horner wrote the score for free, due to his love for the film35) * The 33, for director Patricia Riggen In July 2015, a month after his death, it was discovered Horner had also written the score for the 2016 remake of The Magnificent Seven, planning it as a surprise.36 Horner's scores are also heard in trailers for other films. The climax of Bishop's Countdown, from his score for Aliens, ranks as the 5th most commonly used soundtrack cue in trailers.37 Horner also wrote the theme music for the Horsemen P-51 Aerobatic Team, and appears in "The Horsemen Cometh", a documentary about the team and the P-51 Mustang fighter plane. The theme is heard at the team's airshow performances. Orchestral work In 2014, Horner wrote Pas de Deux, a double concerto for violin and cello. Commissioned to mark 175th season of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the work was premiered on November 12, 2014 by Mari and Håkon Samuelsen, with the orchestra conducted by Vasily Petrenko.38 Horner also composed Collage, a concerto for four horns, premiered on March 27, 2015 at London's Royal Festival Hall by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jaime Martín, with soloists David Pyatt, John Ryan, James Thatcher and Richard Watkins.39 Awards and nominations Horner won two Academy Awards, for Best Original Dramatic Score (Titanic) and Best Original Song ("My Heart Will Go On") in 1998, and was nominated for an additional eight Oscars.60 He also won two Golden Globe Awards,61 three Satellite Awards, three Saturn Awards, and was nominated for three British Academy Film Awards.62 In October 2013, Horner received the Max Steiner Award at the Hollywood in Vienna Gala, an award given for extraordinary achievement in the field of film music.63 AFI In 2005, the American Film Institute unveiled their list of the top twenty-five American film scores. Five of Horner's scores were among 250 nominees, making him the most nominated composer to not make the top twenty-five.64 * Apollo 13 (1995) * Braveheart (1995) * Field of Dreams (1989) * Glory (1989) * Titanic (1997) List of accolades ; Grammy Awards * 1988: An American Tail – Best Album of Original Instrumental Background Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television * 1988: "Somewhere Out There" (from: An American Tail, Winner) – Song of The Year * 1988: "Somewhere Out There" (from: An American Tail, Winner) – Best Song Written specifically For a Motion Picture or Television * 1990: Field of Dreams – Best Album of Original Instrumental Background Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television * 1991: Glory (Winner) – Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television * 1996: "Whatever You Imagine" (from: The Pagemaster) – Best Song Written specifically For a Motion Picture or Television * 1999: "My Heart Will Go On" (from: Titanic, Winner) – Record of The Year * 1999: "My Heart Will Go On" (from: Titanic, Winner) – Song of The Year * 1999: "My Heart Will Go On" (from: Titanic, Winner) – Best Song Written For A Motion Picture or for Television * 2003: A Beautiful Mind – Best Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media * 2011: Avatar – Best Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media * 2011: "I See You" (from: Avatar) – Best Song Written For A Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media List of scores Film 1970s * 1978 The Drought (for the American Film Institute) * 1978 Fantasies (for the American Film Institute) * 1978 Gist and Evans (for the American Film Institute) * 1978 Landscapes (for the American Film Institute) * 1978 Just for a Laugh (for the American Film Institute) * 1978 The Watcher (for the American Film Institute) * 1979 The Lady in Red * 1979 Up from the Depths 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s Television * 1981 A Few Days in Weasel Creek70 * 1981 Angel Dusted70 * 1982 A Piano for Mrs. Cimino70 * 1982 Rascals and Robbers: The Secret Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn70 * 1983 Between Friends70 * 1985 Amazing Stories70 ("Alamo Jobe") * 1985 Surviving70 * 1989 Tales from the Crypt70 ("Cutting Cards") * 1990 Extreme Close-Up70 * 1992 Fish Police70 (theme and pilot episode) * 1992 Crossroads (theme) * 1999 Michelle Kwan Skates to Disney's Greatest Hits70 * 2000 Freedom Song70 * 2006 CBS Evening News71 Short films * 1986 Captain EO72 * 1989 Tummy Trouble7374 * 2012 First in Flight75 Other * 2015 Album "Pas de deux (Horner)" released in May 2015. Category:Composers Category:Dead people Category:Males Category:People Category:Artists Category:Songwriters